Ego Mechanics Gear Up for Homegrown Arts & Music Festival and Reflect on Their Journey
By Dennis M. Kelly
Chicago alt-rock duo Ego Mechanics—comprised of Seth Arp and Jonathan Ross—have been busy this summer, preparing for a landmark first performance at the Homegrown Arts & Music Festival and diving back into the studio. We caught up with the pair to talk about new music, their London adventure, songwriting dynamics, and how they see themselves within Chicago’s ever-evolving music scene.
Finding Their Place at Homegrown
Dennis: Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for me today. How are you, and how have things been for Ego Mechanics lately?
Seth: Doing pretty well! Appreciate the interview. We’ve been busy this summer recording, and we’re gearing up to play the Homegrown Arts & Music Festival this week.
Jonathan: Thanks for having us!
Dennis: That is great to see you’ll be performing at the Homegrown Arts & Music Festival. You’ve never performed there yet, right? Have you ever attended it before?
Seth: Correct, this is our first time playing it. This will also be our first time attending. A few friends of mine and bands we’ve shared the stage with have performed at the festival before, so it’s awesome to be added to what they call the “Family Tree.” Aaron Williams, the organizer, has set up something special here. It’s great to have a festival dedicated to the Chicago scene.
Jonathan: I’d never heard of it before, to be honest, but Seth has a nose for this sort of thing, so I think it’s going to be a blast.
Dennis: I haven’t seen a schedule for it yet. What time are you due to go on?
Seth: We kick the whole thing off around 1:00pm on Saturday. We’re on the main stage inside BaseCamp Pub.
A Year of Recognition and New Adventures
Dennis: How has 2025 been treating the band so far?
Seth: It’s been pretty fun. We were nominated for Best International Band by Radio Wigwam, which is an online radio station in the UK. We traveled to London for the award ceremony and squeezed in a gig while we were there. We got the Homegrown Festival slot back in April, and now we’re deep into writing and cooking up some new material that we’re pretty excited about.
Jonathan: It’s been pretty solid. As well as doing some shows, we’re back in the studio: we’ve been working on some new songs, and we’re looking forward to sharing them with the world shortly.
Dennis: The band won 3rd place in Radio Wigwam’s 8th Annual Awards at the beginning of the year. How did that come about, and how was it performing in London?
Seth: Yeah, this was a fun highlight for the year. So, like I said, Radio Wigwam is an online radio station based in the UK. Independent artists from around the world can submit their music for play (I’ll plug them). I submitted some of ours last summer, and in November, we received an email saying we were nominated for Best International Band.
For the awards, there is a month-long public voting portion, so we were spamming our social media asking for votes, but a panel of staff at Radio Wigwam also has a say in who wins. We were one of 14 bands nominated in our category, so to even get 3rd out of that group was an honor.
We even met the 1st and 2nd place winners after the ceremony and grabbed photos with them and chatted a bit. It was fun to network with some folks in the UK music industry and artists from all over the world.
Going to London was a last-minute decision. I asked Jonathan a few weeks before if he was game to attend. I figured if we go, we might as well try to play a show while we’re over there. So I was frantically Googling and emailing venues, scouring their websites to see if there was an opening.
As luck would have it, we found this venue, The Bread & Roses, where there was one band on the Saturday night bill. I reached out to the band directly on Instagram to see if they wanted or needed an opener, and they talked with the venue and got us on. It was a shoulder-to-shoulder packed house. The band, Jagged Camels, was excellent.
After the show, we closed down the bar with them. It was just a ton of fun. I think we made an impression, too, because the UK has jumped up to our Top 3 countries on Spotify. I’d love to go back even if we don’t get nominated again.
Jonathan: Oh man, was that fun! I hadn’t been to London in years, and it was kind of cool to show Seth the sights and to buy him some proper fish and chips and a Brick Lane curry. The gig itself was for a packed venue, definitely worth the trip.
Seth: The food was delicious. Even outside the gig and awards, hanging out in London was just nice bonding time.
Recognized and Resilient
Dennis: The band is not a stranger to winning contests. Way back in 2020, the band took the #1 spot with almost 34,000 votes in our song contest. How does it feel to get recognized for your artistic creations?
Seth: Yes, our song, This Other Side! It feels encouraging to know that our music is connecting and resonating with people to that point. That EP, and that song in particular, was one I felt strongly about.
Like, I was getting goosebumps every time I listened to it during our recording sessions. I knew we were onto something good. Then it won Best Song of 2020 during a time that felt bleak for the world, which I suppose makes sense because I wrote that song at a time when I was personally feeling bleak, so perhaps it resonated at the right moment.
I’ve had people tell me that they love that song or that it’s their favorite off the EP, which makes me smile and makes me think that we’re on the right track with our music.
Jonathan: I’m so proud of that song – This Other Side will always have a special place in my heart. There’s this amazing synth swell at the top of the track – I just have to hear it for a second to get goosebumps myself. I adore the 12-string and the synth treatments we did.
Inside the Creative Process
Dennis: What is the first thing you think of when you wake up… writing music? Or playing live?
Seth: Right now, especially when there’s a show coming up, playing live. I’m constantly anticipating what the reaction will be, who’s gonna show up, what I’m going to say on stage, what I’m going to wear. I love playing live. Otherwise, when there’s a gap between shows, it’s “I should be writing.”
Jonathan: Coffee. I can’t do anything, let alone think, before I have my first cup of coffee. Thoughts of new music don’t usually come until I’m in the shower.
Dennis: How do you and Jonathan approach songwriting?
Seth: Typically, I’m writing the lyrics, chord progressions, and riffs. I take them to Jonathan, and we flesh them out in rehearsal or through shared Logic files. He’ll add backing vocal ideas, the drums (obviously), and some synths or something. Jonathan is better at the recording and production side of things, so when it comes to editing or adding any creative flourishes, I leave it to him.
Jonathan: Haha, I just pester Seth: “Do you have a new song for us?” But seriously: Seth writes amazing songs. Some real earworms, and he’s certainly the stronger lyricist. I’m played to my strengths when I can take someone else’s creative output and run with it, transform it. When we’re working on a song together, we often surprise each other and take it to places we weren’t expecting.
Seth: Exactly. When I have an idea for a song, typically the drum beat I have in my head or that I put together in my Logic demo recording is pretty simple. So it’s great when I start playing the riff in front of Jonathan and he comes in with something I wouldn’t even have dreamed of. On more than one occasion, I’ve had that happy surprised face like Chris Pratt in that scene from Parks & Rec.
Staying True to Their Sound
Dennis: Is there a specific area that the band wants to stay within regarding topics you write about?
Seth: I don’t think there’s a specific area or topic we confine ourselves to. I try to write of the times I’m living through and experiencing. I’ve written about mental health struggles, love, heartbreak, politics, insomnia, and other stuff. A lot of what I’m writing right now is more political, but again, that comes from what we’re living through now.
Jonathan: Seth writes most of the lyrics, but they definitely speak to me! The mental health struggle and political themes resonate.
Dennis: What are some specific qualities that are indicative of the Ego Mechanics sound?
Seth: This is a great question. As far as qualities indicative to our sound, it’s, no offense to Jonathan, very guitar-centric. It needs to have riffs, it needs to have solos. It feels like a lot of popular, modern, alt-rock has been more synth-forward for a while, and guitar solos, like honest-to-God, melt-your-face solos, fell out of vogue.
Guitar is relegated to more of a texture than the driving force. That sounds like I’m ragging on synth players or more electronic-based music. I’m not, that’s just where music has moved to these days. Call me old school or whatever, but guitar-forward music just does it for me. I love playing the guitar, and I want the world to know it when they listen to us.
Half the fun of live shows for me is the solos and getting theatrical with them. I’ll jump off the stage or get in someone’s face to play a solo. I’ll play behind my head or my back. I’ll drop to my knees and make the stank face. I don’t care. But the sun in the solar system that is our sound is the guitar. My vocals, Jonathan’s drums, and everything else revolve around it.
Jonathan: I am definitely there in a supporting role. As Seth says, it’s a guitar-centric act: the drums are there more as a foundational layer rather than as a focal point in their own right. I listen to Seth’s riffs, the feel, and I lay down the parts that best supplement that. It tends to be more simpler parts, no crazy virtuoso solos – they would only clash with the guitars.
Seth: It’s a similar ethos to The White Stripes. Meg’s drums were always foundational and complementary to Jack’s wild guitars, and we kind of do the same. Except Jonathan plays beyond quarter notes and eighth notes. No shade to Meg White! Haha.
Jonathan: In contrast to the more conservative foundational drums, in my backing vocals and in production, I am often looking to find unexpected elements that take the listener away from the well-traveled path of harmonizing in thirds, or a bass playing the tonic note (if we even put in a bass at all).
Seth nailed it with the observations about our songs tending to have buildups leading to a bombastic ending. I’d probably also add that we tend to write songs with a clear musical narrative: a proper beginning, middle, and end.
Seth:I think the other element you’ll find in a lot of our songs is a buildup to a bombastic ending. There’s this undercurrent of energy running through them that draws more power as you get to the end until it finally explodes. Songs of ours like “Keep It In Mind”, “This Other Side”, “Doormat Waltz”, and “Wreck” all have this big climax at the end, like the big CGI battle at the end of a movie.
I’ve become more cognizant of it over the years and almost try to write against it. I joked with Jonathan about writing a song that does the reverse and starts with a big beginning and gradually gets quieter (haha), but there’s also something to be said for having it as our signature. Ego Mechanics: big guitars and big finishes.
Dennis: Does the band have 1 all-inclusive song that embodies the band’s potential the most so far?
Seth: Probably our song “This Other Side”?? On all fronts, this is probably the song that excels the most. I love every song we’ve made, but this just fires on every cylinder, every time, when you hear it. The songwriting, the guitar, the drums, both my and Jonathan’s vocals.
If not that, then maybe “Burnt Orange.” It’s a fan favorite at our live shows. It’s got our bluesy, gritty sound, it’s got guitar solo galore, it’s a fun slow burn. I remember recording the solos with our producer, Chris Steinmetz, and he just turned around, looked at me, and said, “Oh, I bet this is a fun one to play live.” He was right.
Jonathan: To be contrarian, I pick the original version of Burnt Orange that we recorded in my basement. It has it all. Amazing guitar solos? Check. Off kilter but kinda great harmonies? Check. Atmospheric synth and guitar treatment? Check. And great song-writing and an amazing vocal performance by Seth to top it off.
But yeah, This Other Side is also pretty amazing; another one that does it for me is Doormat Waltz.
Reflections on the Scene and Setup
Dennis: How do you see the band within the Chicago music scene? How would you describe your involvement with the music community?
Seth: Call it a lack of knowledge or experience, but I feel like bands with our specific sound are a bit of a rarity in the scene. I don’t mean that as a slight to the scene or even as a boast. It’s simply an observation. I’m a member of Facebook groups for Chicago bands and gigs, and every post I see is looking for some version of metal, punk, cover bands, folk/Americana, or something.
When I see posts in those groups citing influences, anything I or Jonathan listen to is rarely there. When it comes to listening to up-and-coming Chicago bands, many of them are a specific type of indie rock that doesn’t match our vibe.
Again, I don’t say any of this negatively, nor am I implying that I don’t like any of this music. I think Chicago has an awesome, diverse scene here, and there are lots of bands here I love and support. I’m just saying that when it comes to discovering bands like us, it’s more of a hunt.
Even bands we’ve performed with, there are very few that feature a sound similar to ours. It’s like panning for gold in a river. Oftentimes, when the promoter puts the bill together, we’ve been paired with bands outside our genre.
I’ve walked away from these shows feeling like we’re the odd men out and wondering, “Are we gaining any fans here?” “If we’re not the genre they listen to, will they even bother to listen to us or come see us again?” But it’s not beneficial to think like that, so I try to approach each show as an opportunity to broaden people’s musical palette and just support other local musicians.
Jonathan: Nothing to add here, Seth put it well.
Dennis: How challenging has it been navigating the business side of the band?
Seth: It’s not something I have thought about lately. Overall, we’re not super active right now playing shows, so it’s not on our minds. But I think the biggest challenge is promotion. Finding the energy to post on social media at a regular cadence, spamming invites via social and texts to get people to shows, fighting algorithms, it’s exhausting. I understand the need for marketing, but I am also someone who works in marketing. So, the last thing I want to think about when I’m done for the day is doing more marketing. It’d be nice to have other people doing that, but that costs money, and money in the music industry is already hard to come by.
Jonathan: As Seth says, he works in marketing. So he’s (unfortunately for him!) much better at it than I am.
Dennis: Does the band have management, or are you self-managed?
Seth: Fully self-managed, though Jonathan and I are not easy to manage. Haha.
Jonathan: What he said. I am open to the idea of getting a manager, though.
The Dynamics of Being a Duo
Dennis: Has there been any talk about adding more musicians?
Seth: We like the dynamic. I’ve always liked the simplicity of duos like The White Stripes, The Black Keys, Royal Blood, and others. It’s a nicer split of what little money we make! (haha).
We’ve floated the idea of adding more people a few times. And duos often eventually succumb to adding more people if not to just fill out the live sound (see The Black Keys, Jack White, Royal Blood) With the music we’ve written and recorded lately, it’s full band arrangements, which means we have a lot of songs in our setlist with backing tracks when we play live.
There are pros and cons to that approach. You don’t worry about others messing up, but playing songs the same way over and over again versus adding room for a full-band jam or extending sections can feel stiff after a few shows. But there are ways we can work around that.
Plus, there just gets to be a lot of logistical complications the more people you add. Do we rent a space? Does someone have space where we can rehearse? What’s everyone’s work schedule? “He and I can do it this day, but you can’t? Well, sh*t.” All I have to do is ask Jonathan, “Is today good? Yeah? Great.”
Jonathan: Musically, I’ve always found being a two-piece act to be a wonderful challenge. You have to figure out ways to make it sound fuller, to make it bigger, to come up with arrangements and effects that work well with the limited instrumentation. On stage, you can never slink into the background and take it easy: mistakes are not as easy to mask, and you’ve both got to work all the harder to keep the show engaging.
I have often considered how different things would be if we had a bassist. We wouldn’t have to rely so much on backing tracks, and we wouldn’t have to work quite as hard to get a full sound. But becoming a traditional guitar+bass+drum trio would almost be antithetical to Ego Mechanics – if anything, we’d probably get a synth player or second guitarist.
Seth: Jonathan makes a great point about playing live. The margin for error as a two-piece is razor-thin, and in that way, I think it makes us better as musicians. For me, it’s made me a better guitarist because I’m trying to play as a lead guitarist, rhythm guitarist, and bassist all at once. And yeah, if we made this bicycle a tricycle or a full-fledged car, it’d probably be a second guitarist to cover the other parts I play and keys for the textures. Sorry, Chicago bassists!
How It All Began
Dennis: The band started around 2016/2015-ish?
Seth: Yeah, we met in October of 2015, but the official name and first show was the summer of 2016.
Jonathan: Seth went by “Seth Arp and the Hands” before that, but I, under no circumstances, wanted to be “the hands”. Haha.
Dennis: How did that all come about?
Seth: I had recently moved to Chicago from Wisconsin. A college friend and I had been playing together for a few months in Wisconsin, but the opportunity to move to Chicago was kind of sudden, and I took it, so we amicably parted ways. Pretty much the week I moved, I put out a Craigslist ad looking for a drummer. Jonathan was one of the first to respond.
Jonathan: On my end, I was performing regularly with a singer-songwriter at the time, but had been finding it very hard to work around his ego. I started looking around for someone new, which is when I found Seth’s ad. The bands he listed as influences checked out, and his solo EP was great fun, so I invited him to come and jam in my basement. We clicked from the first note.
Seth: The musical chemistry was immediately there, for sure. He also “bribed” me with Lou Malnati’s and beer after that first jam session. How do you say no to that?! Haha.
Dennis: What about a brief mention of each of your musical beginnings?
Seth: I was a band geek growing up. Played trombone in the school band from 6th grade till senior year, played in the high school jazz band, went to band camp in the summer, and did marching band for a year in college. I picked up the guitar in 2003 after my brother introduced me to The White Stripes’ album Elephant.
That album flipped a switch in me and made me want to play. My brother had picked up the guitar a year prior, which was also a catalyst in my decision. He and I both learned how to play on an old Suzuki acoustic our grandma gave us. For Christmas, our mom bought him a new Fender acoustic, but after a few months, his interest kind of waned.
After hearing that White Stripes album, I wanted a new guitar too. So, my mom, not wanting to potentially waste her money on another guitar, said if I was truly serious about playing, I needed to save up and buy one myself. I bought myself an Alvarez acoustic guitar a year later.
I grew up listening to late 90s/2000s alt-rock: Foo Fighters, Jack White projects, Black Keys, Incubus, Queens of the Stone Age, The Strokes, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc, and spent many nights dodging homework and learning their songs. After watching the movie, School of Rock, all I wanted was to be in a rock band.
Throughout middle school and high school, I tried and failed several times to get one off the ground, partially because I was bullied about my abilities. But I persisted. In college, I tried again with a couple of buddies and was able to churn out a few recordings and a performance, but after graduation, we all went our separate ways, and I was solo again.
It wasn’t until after I graduated from college in 2014 that I decided I wanted to try to make a more serious run at a music career. That’s how my Seth Arp and The Hands project came about.
One of my college buddies, who became my drummer for those few months before I left for Chicago, was a talent booker at our university campus and got me a slot for an afternoon performance at the University Center. Immediately after the show, we went to his apartment and he helped me record my first official EP. Fast forward one year, and I met Jonathan.
Jonathan: As you may have noticed, there is a bit of an age gap between the two of us. Growing up in England in the seventies, I was the youngest brother of three, and I grew up worshipping my oldest brother’s record collection, listening to The Smiths, Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, New Order, and Bauhaus at the ripe old age of 8.
The middle brother was an excellent pianist, and I couldn’t choose between drums and flute, so I did both. When I moved to Holland, I had to choose one instrument, so I ended up with the drums. I did a lot of orchestral and percussion ensemble work – playing timpani in the Dutch national Youth Orchestra as a highlight.
But at home, I was listening to Brian Eno, David Sylvian, David Bowie, and U2, and when I went to university, I got really active in the rock scene. This was in the early 90’s. I played in a couple of bands as a drummer, doing a lot of the writing, and I bought a Fostex 4-track tape recorder and started recording demos for the other bands. Summing up where I was musically at the time: I wanted to be Black Francis.
Then life happened: I graduated, got married and had children, and a career to juggle – music had to take the back seat for a while. It wasn’t until I moved to the States in 2008 that I started playing in earnest again. I joined an Americana band called GoodByeHome and played a couple of tracks on their second album. When the band broke up, I played with a singer-songwriter for a while, but was itching to find an act playing music closer to home. Enter Seth.
What’s Next for Ego Mechanics
Dennis: Bringing things back to this year now, what does the band have lined up besides the Homegrown Arts & Music Festival?
Seth: As of right now, we’re focusing on recording and getting some new music out. It’s been 5 years since our last EP, and 4 years since we dropped a single, so we want to give the people something new.
Jonathan: We’re working on new songs – we’re in the studio polishing some recordings that I’m really proud of. After what has been far too long a dry spell, we’re going to get some new material out in the not-too-distant future.
Dennis: What are the best places to connect with the band?
Seth: Come see us live, and we’re on all streaming platforms, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, YouTube, and soon to be TikTok.
Jonathan: Come talk to us after the show!
A Final Word
Dennis: Do you have any final things you’d like to share with our readers?
Seth: Come see us at Homegrown Arts & Music Festival on July 26th! You can find more info and buy tickets at https://www.homegrownartsandmusicfestival.com/. And if you can’t make it, stream us online and follow us on social media!
Jonathan: What he said!
Dennis: Thanks so much for taking the time to answer some questions for me. Have a great show at the Homegrown Arts & Music Festival!
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Links:
Official: https://www.egomechanicsmusic.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EgoMechanics
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/egomechanics/
